Ryan Ostry
Bugle Reporter
@RyanOstry_BR18
rostry@buglenewspapers.com
According to the Feeding America website, one in five kids lack proper access to food at some point during the year.
Scary, right?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there.
As stated by a scientific statement from the American Heart Association, nine out of 10 children in the US do not have healthy diets.
With that being said, John J. Lukancic Middle School administrators, staff and students all took a step in maybe not correcting the issue, but certainly doing their part to make a difference.
Members from Amazon and the organization ‘No Kid Hungry’ teamed up for the celebration event enhanced breakfast program that kicked off last Wednesday morning.
“Schools offer breakfast programs, but not all students have the time to actually get in and eat breakfast before school,” said Matt Goodman, Amazon spokesman and representative. “In this program, we see the benefit of eating a healthy breakfast and we see the positive effect in the classroom when kids have something in their stomach.”
Associates from the Romeoville fulfillment center helped deliver bananas and engage students in fun activities to emphasize the importance of eating a nutritious breakfast.
A series of 10 questions were asked to the students, all correlating to healthy eating, sparking interest of healthy habits to the kids.
Not all students at Lukancic had the pleasure of attending the activity, as only 100 kids were randomly selected and given a golden card to attend.
“We want the kids to leave today knowing they should always eat a healthy breakfast,” Goodman said. “Now that this will be offered to them on a daily basis, they will have a grab-and-go kart which they can bring to their first period which should remove a lot of roadblocks and barriers to them actually getting a healthy breakfast.”
Lukancic Middle School is not the only beneficiary of this movement however, as this was just one of the events planned across the country aimed to address this issue.
Through a partnership with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, Amazon is providing a total of 100 school grants to bring breakfast into the classrooms.
The nationwide support is expected to help deliver over 3.1 million breakfasts to more than 29,000 students across the country, and it is trying to stabilize the old cliché of enhancing an every day meal in the morning.
“Starting every morning with a healthy nutritious meal sounds so simple but it’s so crucial to helping kids start their day strong,” said Abbey Voelker, Share our Strength Associate Corporate Partnerships member. “We have found that when students start their day with a heavy breakfast, they are in the right mindset to focus on their studies, be willing to learn as much as they can and to be the people they were made to be.”
Voelker also said that with an abundance amount of kids struggling just in the state of Illinois itself, this movement needs to be adapted and put to use immediately.
“With one in six kids struggling with hunger in the state of Illinois, its something that we have to have a big solution in order for the kids to get the proper food that they need,” Voelker said. “We’re really glad to take part in making sure that kids can lead into their futures in a great way.”